ALBANY – Groups pushing for public financing of campaigns received a boost Monday when a corruption-busting panel supported the proposal and blasted New York's pay-to-play culture.

But so far the political dynamics in Albany haven't changed: There are not enough votes in the state Senate to pass public financing.

In the deeply divided Senate, 30 Republicans have opposed it, as well as two Democrats. That leaves the measure one vote short heading into the January legislative session.

Liberal and union-backed groups that support public financing said they will be looking for that elusive vote.

"That's our challenge in terms of getting it passed in 2014," said Karen Scharff, executive director of Citizen Action of New York. "We do need more Senate votes, but we think the climate has changed."

The climate change, advocates said, is the report from the Moreland Commission, an investigative body formed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to root out corruption in Albany.

It recommended public financing for state offices as a way to limit the influence of big-money donors in New York's porous campaign-finance system.

The majority of the 25-member panel said the state should implement a system similar to one in New York City, which provides a 6-to-1 public funds match on small contributions up to $175. But the commission had seven members who opposed public financing.

The commission cited a Campaign Finance Institute report that pegged the cost to taxpayers at about $62 million a year.

"With public funding, small contributions from individual donors are matched and multiplied by public funds, leveraging the power of ordinary individuals and reducing the influence of large donors and special interest money," the report said.

Good-government groups on Wednesday started a "Penny-A-Day Keeps Corruption Away" campaign. The cost of public financing would equate to $3 a year per New Yorker, the groups said.

Senate Republicans have opposed public financing, particularly upstate where they have fought for additional state aid for schools, infrastructure and economic-development projects.

They have estimated the cost at $200 million in a state election year. Republicans control the 63-seat Senate with the four-member Independent Democratic Conference.

A Quinnipiac College poll in April said voters opposed 53 percent to 37 percent public financing. Yet a June poll by Siena College showed voters supported it 61 percent to 33 percent.

Unshackle Upstate, a Rochester-based business group, released a position paper Nov. 25 contending that public financing wouldn't curb corruption, citing some scandals under New York City's system where candidates abused matching funds.